Just announced today is the short list for possible North American Car of the Year (NACTOY) winner, which will be announced at the NAIAS (Detroit Auto Show) in January. Per tradition, this list will be culled down to an even shorter finalist list prior to the show.

This year's car short list features the 2013 3 Series and the 2013 X1 on the truck/utility short list.

For the cars on this list that do not ultimately win, being named to the list is already a sign of distinction given the number of new cars introduced per model year. Below are the car and truck lists.

Don't care much for truck/utility vehicles, but looking at the car list, it'd have to be the Scion FR-S/Subaru BRZ – a simple, light-weight, affordable, no-frills, RWD sports car with a low CoG that brings the fun of driving back to the driver. It’s not perfect, but it’s proof that the so-called progress that has made modern cars big/heavy and the driving experience "digitized" is not necessarily better. I hope more car companies will embrace this “old school with a modern touch” philosophy/approach when designing a car.

After narrowly missing out on getting a 1M last year, I have decided to wait until late next year to pick up a 2014 Scion FR-S (hopefully they’ll have worked out some of the kinks in the first model year by then).

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North American Car of the Year (NACTOY) winner, which will be announced at the NAIAS (Detroit Auto Show) in January. Per tradition, this list will be culled down to an even shorter finalist list prior to the show.

Yes, the Dart engine is a more highly tuned version of the engine in the Fiat 500 Abarth. Sweet, little turbo powerplant - perfect for a smaller, lighter car.

The Dart is another great example of Chrysler/Fiat vision. I don't mean to drink the Kool-Aid all that much but the fact of the matter is Chrysler is making better cars than either GM or Ford currently.